Star Battle is a logic puzzle with a small rulebook and a lot of thinking. You do not need any maths, only patience and a pencil.
The rules
- The grid is cut into coloured regions.
- Put one star in every row, every column and every region (in this one-star version).
- No two stars may touch, not even corner to corner.
Our puzzle
Here is a small 5×5 board with five regions. It has exactly one solution. The bold lines are the borders of the regions.
Move 1: the smallest region
The yellow region is a single cell, so the star must go there. Always look for the smallest region first. Once the star is in, cross out everything it rules out: the rest of its row and column, and the cells around it.
Move 2: the green region
The green region now has only one cell left uncrossed. The star goes there, and we cross out its row, column and neighbours.
Moves 3 to 5
- Move 3. In the third column only one cell is still open, so the star goes there.
- Move 4. The blue region has one open cell left. Place it.
- Move 5. One star is missing, and the pink region has one open cell. That is the last star.
Habits for bigger boards
- Work from the smallest region, row or column.
- After every star, cross out the row, column, region and the eight neighbours.
- When a region is limited to a single row, the other cells in that row are crossed out too.
Books mentioned
Star Battle, Volume Three: Gentle Start
204 one-star puzzles on grids that grow from 6x6 to 9x9, in five levels. It is the one to start with. The grids are bigger than the 5x5 board in this post.
View on Amazon
Star Battle, Volume One: Signature
204 classic 10x10 puzzles with two stars to every row, column and region, in six levels. A step up from one-star boards.
View on AmazonAs an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Cover images are the ones we have on file; the book you receive may show a slightly different cover.
More field notes
Maths Anxiety: How Parents Can Help (and What to Avoid)
What four studies found about parents, teachers and maths worries in young children, and some kind, practical things to try at home.
Bubble Dome Deep-Sea Lab: What It Can Do for Players
Bubble Dome Deep-Sea Lab (Ages 8 to 12): what is in it, what players can get out of it and how to run it.
The Great Zombie Snooze: A Mini Golf Course Full of Sleeping Zombies
The slush machine made a new flavour and everybody turned green. A funny, not scary, printable zombie escape room for ages 10 to 14 and the family.
Honeycomb Hive Rescue: What It Can Do for Players
Honeycomb Hive Rescue (Ages 7 to 10): what is in it, what players can get out of it and how to run it.
Winter Countdown Escape: The Story and a Look Inside
Winter Countdown Escape: the story, how a chamber plays and a look at a real page.
Catching Yawns: Doubling, Halving and a Counted-Twice Brick
In one lock a yawning brick counts twice. That means doubling on the way up and halving on the way down. Quick tricks for halving in your head, too.
Snow Owl Ice Camp: What It Can Do for Players
Snow Owl Ice Camp (Ages 8 to 12): what is in it, what players can get out of it and how to run it.
Puffcloud Expedition: An Escape Room You Play With 52 Cards
The answer is the number of the next card. How a printable escape room card game works, why every answer is checked twice, and how you choose your path.
Casting Out Nines: Check Any Sum in Ten Seconds
Shrink every number to one digit, redo the sum on the small numbers, and compare. A fast check for adding, subtracting and multiplying, and the mistakes it cannot see.
Our Boom Learning Store: Step-by-Step Escape Rooms for Math, Money, Logic and Music
A tour of our Boom Learning store: seven step-by-step bundles of self-checking escape-room decks, what a card looks like, and eight free samplers to try first.
River Rise: Find the Rise, Then Climb the Pyramid
On a rising river every brick gets a little extra. When the gauge has no number, find the rise first. A lock from Escape Anaconda Island, in a made-up example.
Escape the Ice Pyramid: The Story and a Look Inside
Escape the Ice Pyramid: the story, how a chamber plays and a look at a real page.
Creouts Publishing
Puzzle books, printable games and, soon, games you can play here.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Amazon and Etsy are trademarks of their owners. Creouts is not affiliated with Etsy.